After years of vacillating about it, the Cook County Board decided to disband the Stroger Hospital police force after a quick debate.

As debate on the county budget wound down early Friday, Commissioner Roberto Maldonado (D-Chicago), a long-time critic of the agency, pushed through a budget amendment disbanding the force by September and replacing it with a contracted security firm.

"I don't know how most of you can truly say you're truly alert to this issue," Silvestri said as the board took up the debate about 2 a.m. Friday. "We've never really talked about some of these problems."

The county has had problems with the independent force for much of its 34-year history.

Last month, the family of a 77-year-old man said he was badly beaten by hospital police while waiting to meet his wife at the hospital. Last week, police handcuffed a Sun-Times reporter who was at the hospital covering a protest by advocates of the homeless.